


A Swim Sounds Lovely

by adestielable



Series: Adestielable's Tumblr Ask Fics [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: College AU, College Student Castiel, Diver Dean Winchester, M/M, Swimmer Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 19:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15588975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adestielable/pseuds/adestielable
Summary: Castiel smiled shyly and folded the paper up again, looking out at the door Dean had gone out of, blushing again. He thought for a moment before opening his locker back up and putting his swimming suit back on.“A swim sounds lovely,” Castiel said to himself.





	A Swim Sounds Lovely

“I’m going for a swim,” he said, smiling brightly. “Do you wanna join me?” **  
**

Castiel couldn’t help but stare at Dean.

As in, Dean Winchester, the surprising star athlete from Lawrence. Everyone knew about him here at Berkeley. He was going to the Olympics for his extraordinary swimming and diving. Everyone wanted something to do with him. As the outdated saying goes, girls wanted him, boys wanted to be him.

Not only that, though, Dean was  _nice_. He was charming as hell and kind to everyone. It was baffling because he had the looks, he had the status, and he had the connections to get almost whatever he wanted. He didn’t need to be nice to everyone, but he was.  

“Hello? Castiel?” Dean asked, snapping Castiel back to the present.

Castiel could only blink at the boy. He couldn’t get his brain to make his mouth work so he could answer. There were a million questions running through his head at the moment.  _Me? Why me? How do you know my name? Why are you asking me? What are you still doing here? Why are you talking to me? Did someone put you up to this? Are you pranking me? Are there ten other guys out in the pool waiting to make fun of me? Are you just—_

“Cas?” Dean’s brows furrowed and he stepped closer to Castiel, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. “You in there?”

“What?” Castiel blurted out, cursing himself for being so weird and blushing a deep red. Dean’s face broke out into a smile and he laughed.

“You’re cute when you blush,” he said, giving Castiel a genuine smile. Which, only made Castiel blush more. Dean smiled even wider before looking back over his shoulder towards the pool. “Well, I was asking if you wanted to go for a swim with me?”

“M-me?” Castiel squeaked. Dean furrowed his brows again and nodded his head.

“Yeah…?” he said, looking around the locker room. “We’re the only two in here anymore.”

Castiel looked around, too, noticing that that was in fact true. He felt his heartbeat increase and his lungs get smaller.

“Whoa, hey, Cas,” Dean said, stepping closer and putting his hand back on Castiel’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy, take some deep breaths and sit down. Here.” Dean guided Castiel down to the bench. “Don’t pass out on me, man. I don’t have my certification for CPR just yet. ”

Castiel gripped the edge of the bench and closed his eyes, pulling out all the stops his therapist showed him to calm his breathing. There was the Sama Vritti: inhale for a count of four, then exhale for a count of four. He did that a few times, and when it didn’t work, he moved onto the next technique: kapalabhati: one long, slow inhale, followed by a quick, powerful exhale from the lower belly.

Castiel felt his beating heart calm down, but he still felt tense, so he moved onto his favorite coping mechanism, the abdominal breathing technique. He straightened his back and put one hand on his chest and one on his stomach. Slowly, he took a deep breath in through the nose, making sure his diaphragm inflated with enough air to create a stretch in the lungs before exhaling and then repeating. He did this until he felt himself able to stretch his legs out without them locking up and cramping.

It still took another few moment before he registered that Dean was talking to him, the boy’s voice soft and calm.

“Deep breath in for four seconds—” Dean made a noise as if he was breathing in deeply, too. “Hold it for seven, and then breathe out through your mouth for eight seconds,” he said as he exhaled. “And repeat.”

Castiel turned his head a tad to catch Dean breathing in and then holding his breath. He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face and when Dean finally breathed out, he caught Castiel’s eye and smiled with him.

“There we go,” he said happily. “You okay?”

Castiel gave him a small, thankful smile before nodding and saying, “Yeah, I’m sorry. People don’t usually talk to me unless they want to make fun of me or something, and you’re Dean Winchester—as in  _the_ Dean Winchester. I’m just me, but here you are inviting me to go for a swim with you when you could be asking literally anyone else and they’d say yes—”

Dean chuckled. “I don’t know about that,” he said, smiling for another moment before he sobered up and stood up. “And it doesn’t really matter, I mean. I’m asking you.”

Castiel started swinging his leg and bobbing his foot in random patterns. It was another coping mechanism he’d been doing since he was a kid. “Why me?” He asked, darting his eyes to the ground out of nervousness.

“Why  _not_ you?”

Castiel’s leg stilled. “Because… I mean, I’m just me. Like I said, you’re Dean Winchester. I’ve read up about you in the library, you’ve been breaking state records since you were nine. That’s no little feat.”

“I’m just a guy,” Dean said. “And I like to swim. I especially like to swim with cute boys.”

Castiel snapped his head up to look at Dean with wide eyes and mouth agape. A blush he could feel in the tips of his ears made its way across his face and it made Dean smile again.

“I…” Castiel spluttered. “I’m not… What are you—what do you… I’m—”

“You’re awkward,” Dean said, sitting back down next to Castiel. All Castiel could get out was a choking sound. “It’s alright, I get it. I still get stage fright when I have to compete. But I think it’s cute on you,” he said. “Not in a mean way, I mean,” he quickly added. “I just… I think you’re really cute and I’d like to take you out, if that’s something you’d be interested in… Maybe…?”

Castiel choked and stuttered out something that sounded like no word in the english language. Dean smiled and laughed heartily. He reached into his pocket and handed Castiel a slip of paper.

“My number is on there,” he said, “if you ever want to go out and get something to eat or see a movie or whatever, I’ll be free.”

Castiel took the paper and Dean gave him one last smile before getting up and walking over to the exit. He stopped before opening the door and turned back around to Castiel.

“The invitation to go swimming with me is still open, by the way,” he said, and then backed out of the door with a huge smile on his face.

Castiel waited for the door to swing close before eagerly opening up the slip of paper to memorize the numbers.

_‘Hey Cas,_   
_I hope to hear from you soon. If not, I’ll come to find you. (Unless you’re just not interested. In that case I’ll leave you be.)_   
_(778) 237-3022_   
_\- Dean’_

Castiel smiled shyly and folded the paper up again, looking out at the door Dean had gone out, blushing again. He thought for a moment before opening his locker back up and putting his swimming suit back on.

“A swim sounds lovely,” Castiel said to himself. 


End file.
